Tom Clancy, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. There has so far never been a Tom Clancy game I didn’t like. Everything from Rainbow 6 (which I first thought was pretty gay) to Splinter Cell, and now his new title HAWX. Let me first say there haven’t been a whole lot of flight-simulation game franchises on the consoles. The only series I’ve really enjoyed was the AceCombat (or AirCombat) series.

Just like most of the recent Tom Clancy games, this one is set in the near future, 2015. You are a squad leader who was recently dismissed by the US Air Force and are hired by a private security company that provides their services to anyone willing to pay for it. Oddly enough, this company is able to get some of the most advanced fighter aircraft out there; which seems a little odd to me, but I’ll go with it.

The game opens up with you taking an F-14 out for a short combat run where you wind up having to shoot down enemy aircraft and help protect the Ghost Recon squad as they try to finish their mission.

While there is little about this game I dislike, I do have a few small complaints (albeit ones that can be overlooked), such as the music. There is no need for music playing while your flying a plane and the engine noise pretty much dilutes it anyways. Of course, you just need to kill the music and it’ll help you pretend you’re really sitting in the cockpit ( lol I said cockpit) of a F-22 Raptor.

This is one of the few games that really got me into really believing that I am there; flying the plane, evading enemy air craft, even flying at night throughout Las Vegas. The ERS is a nice feature, it allows you to follow a flight route to help chase down your target as well as help you evade enemy missiles. Like every other game under the Tom Clancy name, there are levels and war medals to be gained while playing both the single player and multiplayer campaigns. Objective rewards are specific to each mode of game play.

Ubisoft has another winner on their hands, and I look forward to more tiles under the Tom Clancy name. All I can say is enjoy.

8.5 out of 10